Chapter 21

Canterlot courthouse

July 1st

12:15 pm

Today was yet another day of a court trial as I prepared in a different courthouse than I'm used to. Thankfully, all my friends were there to help ease my discomfort.

"So Will, you think you can do it?" Rainbow asked

"I don't know. I'm confident but whether that's a good or a bad thing is yet to be seen. Still, I've had two trials and I've won two trials so I'm on a roll so far."

"Good luck today Will, I'm sure you won't disappoint any of us or the princess." Twilight said

I was thrown off by this. "Wait what? Why is the princess here?"

"Duh, silly Willie this is high court. Normally, a regular court can decide however since the crime committed deals with international affairs this needs to be a high justice case. This means the outcome is decided by not only the judge but the princess who can overturn a jurisdiction should she deem it worthy." Pinkie said in her erratic yet knowledgeable voice.

"….Wow. Thanks Pinkie I feel much better now."

"It's the least I could do."

The time approached and I stepped into the courtroom and took my defense stand.

"Great I'm unsure about the trial, I'm defending Rainbow Dash's idol, if I don't win she may be executed, and Princess Celestia herself is here. What's next a pony version of Manfred von Karma?"

I was relived when I saw Case Closed approach the prosecutions stand, still his same uptight self.

"Case." I acknowledged him.

"Mr. Wright." He replied.

"You're looking well, you still have your charm with that black vest and ruffled cravat. It's a good look for you."

"I would say you look good as well with your suit but I can't help but notice those bandages on your head."

"I had a bit of an accident nothing too serious."

Eventually, we quit our small talk as the judge came in and banged his mighty gavel. He was a different judge than Graymane, he was much younger but he still had a beard.

"The trial will now commence in the murder of Sky Slasher." He said

"The prosecution is ready your honor."

"The defense is ready your honor."

"Very well Mr. Case, please explain the details of the crime."

"Last night at around ten o clock at night, someone discovered a dead griffon in Ms. Spitfire's hotel room. This griffon known as Sky Slasher was on the griffon flight team the Regal Eagles who coincidently were facing against the Wonderbolts the day after the crime was committed, giving her motive. I've printed out copies of the autopsy report for everyone."

He levitated a copy of the autopsy report over to me and the judge. I examined it: Sky Slasher, 27, cause of death: suffocation, injuries: neck marks, crushed chest, time of death: 9:00 PM

"Alright then, Mr. Wright, how do you plead?"

"You will find my client not guilty your honor."

Some of the ponies in the audience mumbled questioning my decision.

"Very well, Mr. Case you may call your first witness."

"The prosecution calls someone who was there when the body was discovered and saw the criminal enter the room, a member of the hotel cleaning staff."

"Bring him out."

Within two minutes they brought out some pony, a bellboy who for some reason had a tray with him.

"Please state your occupation for the court please."

"Certainly, I am a bellboy for the local hotel here in Canterlot."

"Two days ago, did you witness a crime take place?"

"Well at first I didn't know it was a crime but yes I did."

"Please testify this to the court."

He took a small bow. "Certainly good sir."

"Here we go, time for the battle of truth to begin."

Testimony: "It was late at night when I was passing by Miss Spitfire's room, I think it was around eight o clock at night. It was dark so I couldn't see who entered it but I know it was Spitfire since she was the only one staying there. I returned around an hour later, as I saw the door close once again. I couldn't make out who it was because the room was very dark, after I finished cleaning up I went back down stairs to continue my rounds."

The judge pondered this testimony. "Hmm, all right then. Mr. Wright you may begin your cross examination."

"Okay, what about his testimony is odd. Ah…"

"HOLD IT!" I exclaimed. "Mr. Bellhop, for Spitfire to have committed this crime they both needed to have been in that apartment at once. I need you to remember who it was that went inside, it's vital to this case."

"I'm sorry sir, I just couldn't see."

"Please, is there anything that you saw? Anything at all?"

He thought really hard. "Wait, there was something when I saw the pony opening the door he only used one hoof."

At first I thought this didn't mean anything but then I had a thought "Oh! That's brilliant!"

Case closed looked at me questioningly. "Mr. Wright, I don't really see your point."

"Think about it Mr. Case, we're all ponies here and we all have hooves. Mr. Bellhop isn't it true that to get inside one room you need a key to open it as well as turning the knob."

"Yes."

"Well, then let me ask you a question." I slammed my hooves on the desk. "How does a pony turn a smooth door knob with only one hoof?"

The crowd murmured intrigued by the point I had brought up.

"From this we can assume that the person who entered the room was someone who had manipulatable fingers someone…like Sky Slasher!"

Case Closed looked a bit nervous now. "As interesting as that sounds let me answer your question with a question. If he did enter her room…" He slammed his right hoof into the podium "Then how did he get in? He doesn't have a key. By that logic, Spitfire invited him over to murder him."

"Ugh! He has a point; we can't rule that out as a possibility. But now something else is bothering me…"

"HOLD IT!" I said. "Mr. Bellhop, you keep talking about how dark the room was, why?"

"Well I just thought it was odd because usually there's a lamp in the hallway and I saw it when I first saw someone go inside but when I came back an hour later it was gone."

"Hmm, that is very peculiar." "You also said you were cleaning something, what was it?"

"Oh nothing much just some glass shards, some pony probably just dropped a coffee mug or something."

"Mr. Wright, I don't see what this has to do with the case."

"Nothing really your honor, I just thought I would get some background information before I make my…OBJECTION!"

The judge was a bit startled by this.

"My, what's with all this objection nonsense?"

"It's quite simple your honor, according to this man's testimony Sky Slasher arrived at Ms. Spitfire's room at 8:00 pm. However…" I slammed my hooves on my podium "This directly contradicts the time of death set an hour later!"

The crowed murmured to themselves about what I had said until the judge banged his gavel.

"Order! Order!"

"OBJECTION!" Case closed said. "While there may be some truth to your statement it is possible he was just fighting back."

I shook my head no. "No pony can fight back for a full hour without getting tired even if he is a griffon."

Case closed scoffed. "Look Wright you obviously don't have a point to make here so why don't we just ask Ms. Spitfire ourselves what happened and if she confesses we'll go easier on her."

"Damn! He's just toying with me now. But I'm out of options and I know Spitfire didn't do it so maybe this will work." "All right, I'll ask her."

I looked at Spitfire who was sitting in the defendant's chair.

"Spitfire, can you tell the court exactly what happened last night?"

She was nervous and her words came out rushed. "I…I can't"

I was shocked. "What do you mean you can't? Are you saying you won't tell us?"

"No, I literally can't remember. When I think about last night I draw a blank and my head starts throbbing."

"Kind of like my head right now. Wait, is that a coincidence?"

"Ms. Spitfire could you part your hair for a second please?"

Spitfire grabbed her hair and pushed it to the sides and I saw a black and blue mark with a small cut next to it.

"Ah, that might explain it." I said

"What is that?" the judge asked

"When we took her in to custody we found that wound on her head. It's nothing serious, she probably got it while she was struggling against Sky Slasher. It isn't relevant to this case" Case Closed said.

I suddenly had a revelation. "Oh…OH! Yes it is."

"Mr. Wright what are you getting at? Your thought pattern seems very erratic today."

"I'm quite alright sir because I just had an idea. That wound didn't happen because of some stumble or accident, someone tried to attack her and hit her over the head and that person…must be the real attacker!"

The crowd was in shock at what I said. The judge banged his gavel three times.

"Order! Order! Mr. Wright, what sort of grounds do you have to support your statement?"

"I have this your honor…"

TAKE THAT! I pulled out the shard of glass I stepped on in the hallway.

"This is a shard of glass that was found at the scene of the crime in the hallway, now Ms. Spitfire's injuries have not just a bruise but also a cut as if the thing she was hit with started off blunt and then became a cutting instrument. Bellboy you said that there was a lamp in that hallway correct?"

"Yes."

"Then I propose the theory that Sky Slasher got there ahead of time and was not attacked by Spitfire who wasn't in her room yet. However when she did arrive sometime between 8:00 and 9:00 she was attacked…by Sky Slasher's true killer!"

Case closed shook his head in disappointment and somewhat amusement. "This is an interesting theory and there's defiantly some merit, however there are questions that still remain: How did Sky Slasher get in? Why was he there in the first place? If Spitfire was attacked then who was the attacker? And what really happened to Sky Slasher?"

I stood there in silence because honestly these were questions I couldn't answer. I was about to defend myself but suddenly someone came up to Case Closed and whispered something into his ear.

"Hm, it seems we have another lead in this case."

"What is it Mr. Case?" the judge asked as intrigued as I was.

"It seems there's someone here who says that they have a theory as to what happened."

The judge wondered what he should do. "Well normally we usually don't let just anyone come in but this matter is serious and must be dealt with quickly, please bring them in."

Case closed left and brought in the witness much to my distress.

"Oh god, not her. Why did it have to be her of all people?"

"Please state your name and occupation for the court." Case closed said

"Name's Gilda, I'm part of the elite team of flyers from the griffon kingdom."

"Gilda, you came her to Canterlot with your teammate Sky Slasher, yes?"

"That's right bub, I liked the little guy too, he was a good flyer."

"You also said that you had an idea of who committed the crime?"

"Yep, as that lame-o lawyer in the suit over there said there is a possibility someone else did it or was working with Spitfire to give her an alibi."

"Oh, who is this mysterious pony?"

"The way I see it, it must be somepony who would have a score to settle with us griffons or it's someone who is an avid fan of the Wonderbolts and I know somepony who is both of those things."

I was getting frustrated at her. "Out with it girl, who is this pony?"

She smirked at me. "You'll regret asking that, it's her! She helped Spitfire."

I looked to see who Gilda was pointing at and my heart instantly sank…it was Rainbow Dash. As the crowd murmured and wondered to themselves I did the only thing I knew how to do.

"OBJECTION!" I yelled "Gilda you cannot be serious! Give me one good reason why Rainbow Dash would have done this."

She smugly smiled again. "Here's your proof bub." She pulled out a newspaper dated one day ago while I was in the hospital. "This newspaper came out yesterday, you'll find on page twenty one and interesting story."

I took the paper and opened up to the page, there in big letters it says "Rowdy clouds: Griffon gets into scuffle with rainbow pony at the Wonderbolt stadium."

"This was just from yesterday, as you can see I'm the griffon in that picture. It's true I got in a fight with her but I beat her and that made her angry, so angry in fact that she wanted revenge and she tried to strike at me and she used my team to do it."

I was flabbergasted. "That's ridiculous; first of all we don't know who started this fight. Second of all, I know this pony and she is not a violent mare she would never hurt any pony."

She chortled a bit. "Oh really? Then answer this Mr. Wright, where did those injuries come from?"

"How did she know about that?" "Nothing, I just had an accident that's all."

"Yeah right."

"You honor, her accusations hold no merit, and I move that we strike all her words from the record."

The judge shook his head no. "Request denied. Mr. Wright this is a serious ordeal and if there's even a small chance that we can find out whom did it we will take any lead we can." He banged his gavel. "However, with no definitive evidence linking her to the crime I will hold the proceedings of this court until tomorrow afternoon. Until then Ms. Dash will be taken into holding until tomorrow. That's final, court is adjourned."

Suddenly two guards came up and grabbed her to which she tried to struggle.

"Hey! Let me go, I didn't do anything!"

I was so worried, I needed to help her. "Rainbow Dash, please don't struggle! Just do what they say; I'll see you later I promise!" I yelled as she was brought away.

"Hmph, trying to save the guilty party. How pathetic." Gilda said from behind me.

In that one moment I was filled with so much anger for what she did I wanted to kill her myself. To relieve some of my anger I turned around to face her. "Listen to me you half breed freak, if you're doing this just to hurt her I swear I will…"

"Relax Mr. Wrong; I honestly believe that she deserves this."

I stared at her with a stare that would pierce most people's souls but what scared me was that I saw nothing, no psyche lock, she was telling the truth and that scares me. I walked away from that harpy with a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach before I did something I was going to regret.

"Brace yourself Gilda, the day may belong to you but I will win this war, I swear it!" And I stormed out of that room without another word.

Twist ending! I hope no one saw that coming. Next time, Will looks deeper into this case to find the truth, and the answers are unexpected. Lies, love, betrayal all that and more next time on "The tale of Pegasus Wright"

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